Wasting in Mumbai slums drops down to 12 per cent: Survey

Mumbai: According to a survey conducted by CRY (Child Rights and You) and SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action), a type of malnutrition termed “wasting” pertaining to the underweight is found in slums of city suburbs such as Mankhurd, Govandi, Dharavi and Kurla.

Wasting refers to acute malnutrition and is caused by extremely low energy intake, nutrient losses due to infection, or a combination of both. Infections/conditions associated with wasting include tuberculosis, chronic diarrhoea, AIDs and superior mesenteric artery syndrome.

The study, carried out between 2011 and 2016 with the help of the NGOs’ volunteers and staff of state-run anganwadis, revealed that over a period of two years, wasting in children had reduced from 17 to 12 per cent from baseline to end line.

Vanessa D’Souza, Chief Executive Officer, SNEHA, said, “Effective convergence across sectors i.e. public health and nutrition and delivery of contingent actions at the community level can make a significant contribution to improving child nutrition”.

Nilendu Kumar, Director, CRY, said, “Recently, the state has seen many instances of infant and child deaths mainly in rural and tribal areas. Severe acute malnutrition is a strong predictor of child mortality (Collins 2006) and prevalence of acute malnutrition greater than 15 per cent in a population is considered as state of critical emergency (UNHCR handbook)”.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) IV, 20 per cent of children below 5 years of age in Mumbai suffer from wasting. To address wasting is critical because of risks of disease and in some cases, death in children who lose their body weight.